UCC student wins 10 years of free Uber trips

A Cork college student has won 10 years of free Uber trips.

To celebrate 10 years of service in Ireland, the ride-hailing taxi company ran a competition last month.

Uber users were automatically entered into a draw, with Grace McManus the lucky winner of a decade’s worth of free trips.

She was already a regular user of the taxi service.

Grace, a third-year biochemistry student at University College Cork, said that she was at work when the head of Uber Ireland, Kieran Harte, phoned her to let her know she had won big. “Kieran rang me last Thursday morning and told me that I had won, and I didn’t believe him,” said Ms McManus.

“I thought it was a scam, and he [Kieran] was telling me it was legit, so when he emailed me I was like, ‘Oh, this is actually real’.

“It was completely out of the blue,” Grace said.

“I won because I took an Uber between the 14th and 21st [of October].

“I never win anything. I felt like I should’ve entered the lotto after!

“I use Uber all the time, anyways, so it’s just unreal that for the next 10 years it’s free.

“I feel like a valued customer,” Grace McManus said.

“I basically get 1,000 Uber cash annually, and I don’t even know will I be able to use it all in one year.”

Planning out her next trip, Ms McManus said she can now stop asking her brother, Sean, for lifts, as she’s “sorted” going forward for visiting friends and for collections after nights-out.

“I usually walk to college, so I’ll mostly use it for nights-out, or else going to see my friends: [they] live out in Blackrock and that’s a bit of a trek to walk to.

“I’d usually get a taxi there, so I’ll use it for that,” said Ms McManus.